Fan photos based on You Are Not Here!

Google is an amazing thing. I get these lovely alerts when people are talking about my books. Well, Google told me that Nicole, one of the people who won the YANH photo contest, posted a flickr album with all her outtakes. I was so impressed (and honored) that Nicole put so much time and effort into the contest that I asked if I could post the outtakes and some info about her process! Check it out… (Too see the captions Nicole wrote for these pictures, click here.)

"Making the "You Are Not Here" photo shoot happen was trying. Mostly because the sister that was supposed to sit in as Annaleah was not available and it was raining all of the time. In the end it all came together and the grass dried out- sort of. Even if the wind blew like God was trying to show us that he didn't want my sister, Jordan, and I taking photos in a graveyard. We were as respectful as possible, promise. I chose a location that was behind one grave, but where we would not be walking on another. Also, I chose one where you could still see the basketball court in the distance- the place where Brain drew his final breath. The tombstone bit was tricky. It kept falling over, because I had thrown something in the trunk of my car that was heavy and it was just one of those Halloween ones that is made out of Styrofoam. Then, the pages on the National Geographic catalog wouldn't stay and feathers flew everywhere. I was running across the graveyard jumping over graves to catch them and delicately place them back where they were supposed to be. But it did come together after a month of semi-planning.

Planning it was even more difficult than making it happen, although, at one point I though December 20th would just pass by and I would forget or no one would be available to sit in. But Jordan didn't let me down and she wore the flowered dress like a champ, even though it was freezing cold and we had to switch out outer-gear- she got my sweater and I wore her boyfriend's jacket. BUT, it started off with me scouting possible graveyards. I drove around for miles thinking of where I had taken shots before, thinking of a specific place that would remind someone of what they read in the book…or reminding me for that matter. I parked my car, walked around for hours in various locations thinking and re-reading the book. Then, it hit me. Close to home. Like, I'm serious, the graveyard I chose is about seven miles away from my parent's house in the country, just outside a church that I pass at least once a week. I had never considered it until then and wasted so much gas and time. Then, it hit me again. It has a basketball court. It has a smaller church like I imagined when I was reading, You Are Not Here. Kismet!? A huge, stoke-able YES.

Then came the trying to find a fake apple, white rose, white feathers, digging up old NYU college catalog, sorting through my massive collection of all books Egyptian, travel catalogs, various books (including Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and two novels by Elizabeth Peters—aka Egyptologist Barbara Mertz) and my old Mexican blanket that I adore. The most important part, for me, was the dress. I thought and sorted through a messy closet and room and found it. Small blue flowers spread across it. If I was going to do it, I wanted to do it right. I found the catalogs in a box underneath my bed from three years ago, the book (placed in front of the headstone and opened to King Tut's face) in a thrift store, so I wouldn't have to risk messing up one that I needed for school and research, the white rose and feathers I found at Hobby Lobby and the headstone and apple at a local store.

After the photo shoot was done and we were back in the car all warmed up and on the way home, I edited the photos, picked through what I thought was suitable, or would work. There were so many that I didn't use. Maybe over one hundred, but I was content with the outcome and had a blast doing it. Come to think of it, my other sister, Jo, did sit in for some photos that I could have used. They were by the river. It sort of reminds me of Annaleah watching fireworks with her friends and where she and Brian met. In the end, I would do it again. It was a blast and I'm fortunate enough to have the best sisters in the world that sit around in graveyards in pretty dresses and scale cliffs by rivers so we can get good water shots."